Compare Masters Programs in Architecture 2017 in Tallinn in Estonia

A masters is the first level of graduate coursework and can be obtained after you receive a bachelor’s degree. Earning a masters usually requires two years of full-time study, which amounts to 36 to 54 semester credits.

The process of creating a well-made structure entails a great deal more than just propping up four walls. Knowledge of architecture is needed in order to ensure that buildings meet predetermined desires and legal guidelines.

Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties, with its capital and largest city being Tallinn. Estonia has 12 public and 8 private universities. The oldest university in the country is the University of Tartu, established in 1632.

Tallinn is the capital city of Estonia and the largest in the country. It has over 400,000 residents. Tallinn city has 2 major universities and over 5 minor institutions of higher learning and sciences.

Master Degrees

Masterstudies

Estonia, Tallinn

Location

Study type

Study type

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Pace

Estonian Academy of Arts

CampusFull time2 yearsAugust 2017EstoniaTallinn

We educate future interior architects. The most important practical subjects are the design of space, furniture and architectural details.
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Masters in Architecture in Tallinn in Estonia. Master of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design
We educate future interior architects. The most important practical subjects are the design of space, furniture and architectural details. For instance, the students learn to design homes, schools, cafés, both modern and demanding historical interiors. The students also learn about painting and landscaping, photography and philosophy.
The Academy of Arts has educated interior architects for more than seventy years. One can honestly say that all of Estonia’s most important interiors have been designed by our graduates and current faculty members.
We try to adhere to a principle that stresses the integrity of form and content but also considers the function of the space or the item. We keep our finger on the pulse of our times, while also searching for our own path.
In our climate, people unfortunately spend most of their time indoors and not outdoors, and therefore, whether we like it or not, indoor spaces have a great impact on our everyday lives. Therefore, interior architects and furniture designers have a unique opportunity to improve the world – to use their ideas to make people happier.
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND FURNITURE DESIGN AS A PROFESSION
The field in which we operate – the built-up environment as a whole – forces us to synthesise and perceive architectural problems and environmental issues more generally. At the same time, we deal with all the smallest tangible details and problems that people are personally interested in. And we must know what is happening in the other design fields and fine arts, and to be familiar with a large number of technical disciplines. These include, among others: lighting and acoustics, heating and ventilation, building and finishing materials, building and furniture structures, and various computer programs. If we add good communications skills, necessary for understanding and influencing the client or various interest groups related to the design process, as well as the need to be well-acquainted with the specifics of various design fields, we get quite an awe-inspiring list.
WHAT ARE THE STUDIES LIKE?
The three-year BA programme places the greatest emphasis on the theoretical and practical learning of general art subjects and technical disciplines, which enables the graduate to continue in the MA programme, or to work as an assistant in an architectural or interior architecture office, in various media fields, as well as in manufacturing, service and business enterprises.
The MA programme basically focuses on various specialised creative projects, the in-depth analysis of the elements of the built-up environment, and the completion of the master’s thesis. In accordance with the curriculum, the studies add up to 120 ECTS credits. Graduates of the MA programme can work as independent specialists in both the design and construction fields, in the furniture industry, at media and advertising companies, as well as in service and retail enterprises.
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND FURNITURE DESIGN AT THE ACADEMY OF ARTS
Interior architects have been educated at the Academy of Arts for more than 70 years. One can honestly say that all of Estonia’s most important interiors have been designed by our graduates and current faculty members. One could mention Leila Pärtelpoeg, who restored the Tallinn Town Hall and numerous manor houses; Väino Tamm, the foremost modernist of the 1960s; and current Professor Emeritus Vello Asi; Pille Lausmäe, famous for her luxurious minimalist interiors; and Tiina Mang, who has gained fame for her neo-functionalist furniture. The department is headed by Professor Toivo Raidmets, who has created sensations with his striking club interiors and interesting furniture.
The foundation for the education of interior architects in Estonia was established by a presidential decree on 1 August 1938. To date, 551 interior architects, studying full- and part-time, have received their professional higher education diplomas.
The preliminary step for the establishment of the Department of Interior Architecture was the opening of a woodworking workshop at the Tallinn Industrial Art School in 1917, where furniture design was also taught.
A more professional education of interior architects was initiated in 1938, when an interior architecture course was introduced at the State Higher Art School, which was created on the basis of the industrial art school.
The mission-oriented idea to educate interior architects may have come from the members of the progressive Association of Applied Arts (RaKÜ). Its membership including practicing architects who had no professional education. One of them, Richard Wunderlich, was Estonia’s most prominent designer of luxury furniture, chairman of RaKÜ, the school’s director and one of its first teachers. The RaKÜ members also included a dozen outstanding architects, including Edgar-Johan Kuusik, who became the head of the department after World War II.
The studies, which had been interrupted by the war and ensuing political changes, were resumed in 1944 in a reorganised school of higher education with a new name – Tallinn State Applied Art Institute of the Estonian S.S.R. The first interior architects with higher educations graduated in 1949. The department was closed in 1955. More changes occurred – the State Art Institute of the Estonian S.S.R. (ERKI) was created by merging the institutes for art education, and the speciality was consolidated in a department with the new name of Spatial Design.
In 1959, students were again admitted and a younger generation of interior architects filled the faculty positions. Bruno Tomberg, Väino Tamm, Leila Pärtelpoeg and Vello Asi were engaged in the teaching. The studies were organised on the basis of a new curriculum, and an up-to-date study profile was developed. The studies focused on a form idiom influenced by Nordic Modernism, which emphasised functionality and constructiveness. The so-called Tamm School, which favours clarity and succinctness, has ensured the recognised level of Estonian spatial and furniture design since the 1960s.
STUDIES
The graduates can work independently as interior architects and furniture designers – their diplomas correspond to the professional standards approved by the Association of Interior Architects.
The Academy of Arts is the only accredited school of higher education in Estonia that offers the relevant BA programme. The studies include numerous international workshops, lectures by visiting professors, seminars and the students introduce their work at both local and foreign fairs (in Stockholm for example). Especially close collaboration exists with the Nordic countries. Students can continue their studies at foreign schools of higher education, or, if they wish, in the PhD programme at the Academy of Arts.
In accordance with the curriculum, the studies comprise 180 AP, of which half are related to the specialised theoretical and practical subjects. Of the theoretical subjects, the following deserve special mention: the history of architecture and interiors, architectural typology, the parts of buildings, health protection and fire safety, lighting equipment, architectural acoustics, computer studies, art management and much more. The practical subjects include the design of space, furniture and architectural details. The relevant projects are completed as exercises, and samples of furniture and furnishing elements are produced in the departmental workshops.
WHAT JOBS WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER I GRADUATE?
interior architect
furniture designer
entrepreneur
journalist writing about interior architecture
artist
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Estonian Academy of Arts

The program is situated at the trans-disciplinary crossroad of critical urban studies, urbanism and urban planning, architecture theory, sociology and urban ethnography.
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Master in Urban Studies
The two-year Master’s program in Urban Studies combines rigorous academic research with intensive field-work. The program is situated at the trans-disciplinary crossroad of critical urban studies, urbanism and urban planning, architecture theory, sociology and urban ethnography. Our students have previous academic background in architecture and/or humanities. Integrating critical interrogation and experimental practice, the program has a triple focus on social uses, spatial programs and urban forms.
The form of assignments includes term-long research studios, intensive workshops, lectures, seminars, and field trips. The distinctive mark of the Master in Urban Studies is its reliance on theoretically informed action in the field. We take students’ effort seriously: the program engages ‘real’ actors and create opportunities for public presentation, discussion and publishing of best works.
The Master’s program is fully in English and it has a strong international orientation. We cooperate with a network of partner institutions in Europe and we are connected to regional partners in Finland, Baltic countries and Russia. Curriculum includes number of workshops and lecture courses by international scholars and practitioners. Students also participate in hosting the annual international conference Urban and Landscape Days in Tallinn.
The education prepares students to engage with urban issues at the intersection between design practice, political practice and theoretical knowledge. The program prepares graduates for further study at the PhD level.
ABOUT PROGRAM
As events and transformations of the recent decades have forcefully shown, the urban question permeates all major social, economic, and political developments of today. The interdisciplinary Master’s program in Urban Studies critically engages with the wide-ranging manifestation of contemporary urbanity, integrating knowledge from urban studies, urbanism and urban planning, architecture theory, sociology, urban ethnography and geography.
Contemporary urban situation is studied as a multifaceted phenomenon, which cannot be understood from a single disciplinary perspective. In preparing students for understanding and intervening in urban space, the dual character of city as a built form and as a social process is emphasised. The program leads students to have an insight in the dynamics of institutions, actors, and conflicts that shape today’s cities.
The mission of the English-speaking Master’s program in Urban Studies is to understand and analyse contemporary urban problems and act upon these problems in terms of design, policy, activism, and research. The education prepares students to engage with urban issues at the intersection between design practice, political practice and theoretical knowledge (urban design, urban and spatial planning, state and municipal policy making, public expertise, community advocacy, social activism, academic and practice-based research). The program prepares graduates for further study at the PhD level.
The Master’s program is fully in English and it has a strong international orientation. It offers regular guest lectures and lectures courses by international scholars and practitioners. The element of interactivity is important and students often work in small groups. Intensive urban fieldwork is complemented by regular consultations with teachers.
History of the program
Combining influences from typomorphological approach of Aldo Rossi and conceptual urbanism of Rem Koolhaas’ OMA, the program was established by professor Jan Verwijnen in early 2000s. From the start, the Urban Studies curriculum linked architecture to philosophy, urban history, critical economic theory, cultural studies and knowledge of new planning tools. The driving idea was to re-ground architecture and urbanism, so that projects – defined as “urban interventions” – would grow from contemporary urban phenomena, not from ossified professional practices or historical models. The program was characterised by an intense interest in everyday life, its spatial context and new conceptualisations of space as a process. The first Urban Studies Days were organised in 2004. The aim was to bring in high-level international experts and to discuss Tallinn’s planning and urban development in the spirit of Berlin’s Stadtforum. Later the event was renamed Urban and Landscape Days, and it is organised annually in April or May. In 2005, Panu Lehtovuori took the responsibility in 2005 to run the program and develop the curriculum. Since autumn 2012, the program has been led by Dr. Maros Krivy.
STUDIES
The Master’s program in Urban Studies provides the students with:
theoretical ground for understanding urban history and contemporary urban development,
practical research and methodological skills for analysing urban situations in a rich, comprehensive and interdisciplinary way,
design skills engaging the student in work on urban and spatial planning,
international and comparative perspective.
Pedagogically, the curriculum consists of:
lectures courses, in which key debates in contemporary urban studies an architectural theory is presented,
reading seminars, where students are engaged in critical discussion of these debates,
semester-long research studios, the core element of the program, in which students analyse, engage and propose solutions to ‘real’ urban situations, utilising wide range of planning (scenario planning, interventions) and academic (interviews, observation, archival research) methods,
seminaries held by invited lecturers, who provide expert knowledge on multiple fields central to the urban question (geography, history, art history, detailed planning, software tools),
annually changing workshops and courses on topical themes, which are shared between first and second year MA students, helping the two groups to integrate.
The basic structure of the Master’s program is as follows:
1st year, autumn term: urban and architectural theory, typomorphology studio
1st year, spring term: scenario-planning studio
2nd year, autumn term: urban research studio, urban planning studio (held in collaboration with students of Architecture program)
2nd year, spring term: Master’s thesis.
ADMISSIONS
Depending on their background discipline, prospective students have an outstanding portfolio of either design or written work (realised or published work is not required, but it is an advantage) in a field relevant to the discipline of Urban Studies (architecture, planning, social sciences, art history, etc.). Students’ strong interest in urban phenomena, manifested in their previous work at the level of design skills and/or research experience is decisive. Crucially, prospective students are able to manifest that they are willing and capable to integrate these two forms of urban knowledge in their Master’s studies. Prospective students are able to formulate original questions, problems and approaches that they would like to pursue during the Master’s studies. Fluent command of English language is required.
The process of selecting prospective students has two rounds. In the first round, the applicants are assessed based on the submitted portfolio of written and/or design work and the CV. In the second round, in-depth interviews are conducted with prospective candidates.
The requirement for admissions to Master’s studies is a Bachelor’s degree, higher education obtained on the basis of professional higher education curriculum or other relevant qualification that gives access to Master’s studies. Educational certificates issued abroad are recognized by Estonian Academy of Arts on the basis of the assessments and opinions of the Estonian ENIC/NARIC Centre.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
The admission period for international applicants is March 1st till May 1st, 2016. Application can be filled online.
ESTONIAN APPLICANTS
The admission period for Estonian applicants is June 20th till July 3rd, 2016. Application can be filled online.
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